Understanding the Symbolism of Appliances in Dreams and Traditions

Dreams involving household appliances often carry rich symbolic meaning, reflecting our relationships with family, traditions, and the structures that support our daily lives. Each appliance serves a unique function, and in this context, they become more than just tools—they transform into vessels of memories and emotional connections. Just as a kettle may symbolize warmth and hospitality, a refrigerator could represent stability and nourishment for the family.

Traditions around cooking or home maintenance often shape our views and emotions surrounding these objects, inviting us to explore deeper personal connections. Dreaming of these appliances invites reflection on how our memories and daily routines shape our identities. By examining these dreams, we uncover the layers of our experiences and the legacy left behind by our families, enriching our understanding of ourselves in the process.

• Dreams featuring appliances often symbolize tradition and family roles.
• The condition of the appliance may reflect your personal feelings and family dynamics.
• Modern interpretations can relate to technology's impact on daily life.
• Understanding personal experience is crucial for interpreting the dream’s message.
• Engaging with your dreams can enhance self-awareness and spiritual growth.

Symbols

• appliance
  • Heater:
  • Kiln:
  • Garb:

    (Adornment; Attire; Costume; Garb; Veil) In a dream, one’s apparel vary in meaning depending on their contents, colors or type, etcetera. Wearing one’s garb in the winter in a dream is better than wearing it in the summer. Wrapping oneself with a cloth in a dream means becoming poor.

    An attire in a dream represents a man and a leader. An attire for a scholar, or a merchant, or a leader in a dream represents his trade through which one earns his livelihood and which protects him from adversities. If one’s apparel is dirty in the dream, then it reflects his life and appearance.

    If one wears a beautiful garb in the summertime in a dream, it means that he is ostentatious, arrogant and vainglorious. It also could mean that he is under great pressure and suffering from a painful distress, for the heat of a summer in a dream signifies distress. If a woman sees herself wearing a man’s apparel in a dream, it means piety and 14 IBN SEERIN’S success in her material and spiritual life.

    If a man sees himself wearing a woman’s apparel in a dream, it means that he will be afflicted with fear, depression, subjugation, humiliation, trials, then all of it will be lifted away from him.

• practice
  • Wanted:

    (Claim; Search; Wanted) In a dream, pursuit means one’s destiny, or death. If one sees himself wanted by his enemy in a dream, it means that he may die shortly. On the other hand, pursuit in a dream also could represent things that foster one’s pride, such as knowledge, schooling, degrees, money, or work.

    If one sees himself pursued by someone in a dream, it means sorrow and distress. Pursuit in a dream also represents one’s goal in life. If one is not a fugitive, then to see himself wanted in a dream means appeasement of his fears.

    If one sees an ugly looking person searching for him in a dream, he then represents an unwanted catastrophe, or a mishap. If one is caught by his claimant, then it means increase of his fears. If one sees himself pursuing something, or seeking to get something in a dream, it means that he will attain his goal or at least a part of it.

  • Fettering:

    (Fettering; Forbearance; Self-control) Exercising patience in a dream means glad tidings, or a warning about an adversity, or perhaps it could mean success in one’s endeavors. If one exercises patience toward harm or adversities he suffers in a dream, it means that he will rise in station, or receive a financial reward, or it could mean enjoying good living, safety, good health and victory in one’s life.

  • Self-control:

    (Fettering; Forbearance; Self-control) Exercising patience in a dream means glad tidings, or a warning about an adversity, or perhaps it could mean success in one’s endeavors. If one exercises patience toward harm or adversities he suffers in a dream, it means that he will rise in station, or receive a financial reward, or it could mean enjoying good living, safety, good health and victory in one’s life.

• machine
  • Ginner:

    (Machine. See Cotton ginner)

  • Hand grinder:

    (Laboring; Livelihood; Millstone; Travel) A hand mill in a dream means overcoming distress, pain, or satisfying one’s needs. It could also mean richness after poverty, marriage, a servant, or moving into a new house. If someone sees a hand mill in a house that is not accustomed to grinding its own grain or spices in a dream, it means adversities, defeat, or arguments.

    If one then grinds bread, or meat or honey with in the dream, it denotes a despicable character of the people of that house, their falsehood, affectation, lesbian or pervert nature. If one sees a hand mill grinding stones in a dream, it means that he will be seized by terror. If one grinds barley or grains for food in a dream, it means solving the family’s problems, prosperity, recovering from illness, or refurbishing one’s business.

    If one sees a huge hand mill in the center of a town in adream.it means war and destruction and especially if he sees it grinding rocks or emitting fire or sparks. Otherwise, it means a plague if the hand mill is grinding spoiled and moldy grains, mud, or spoiled meat. If one sees the millstone tilted in a dream, it means rising prices.

    If the hand mill is turning with nothing to grind in the dream, it means toiling aimlessly. If the hand mill turns using a wheel in the dream, it means prosperity. If one sees the hand mill turning and not grinding in a dream, it means travels.

    If it turns for no useful purpose in a dream, it denotes the nearing of one’s death. A pair of small hand grinders in a dream represent two loathsome partners that no one can correct or guide. If one sees himself operating a millstone by hand in a dream, it means that he earns his livelihood following the required religious conduct, and earns his money from his own sweat.

    A millstone in a dream also may denote loathsome actions. If a prisoner sees a broken millstone in a dream, it means that he will be soon released, and if he is under a death sentence, it means that the judgment will be rescinded, or that he may die before the judgment is carried out. As far as the question of livelihood, the better looking and effective is the hand mill, the better are one’s earnings and vice-versa.

    If one buys a hand mill in a dream, it means that he will get married, or that he will marry off his daughter, or that he will travel on business. If the millstone is interpreted to mean a husband or a wife, then it represents respectful people. A hand mill in a dream also means comfort, relief, evil, fight, dispute, wife, servant, livelihood, travels, gourmandism, or a woman who gives herself priority in everything.

  • Grinder:

    (Grinder; Press) In a dream, a mill represents a school, a courthouse, a balance, justice, righteousness, benefits, blessings, money, food, charity, or marriage. The millstone in a dream represents a wife and a husband. The flour that issues from between the two grinding stones represents sperms or children.

    A mill in a dream also means distress and adversities, uptightness, headache, a rivulet, or a windmill. If one sees a mill grinding human beings in a dream, it means loss of lives and adversities. If one sees a mill grinding something that is not edible in a dream, it means drought and rising prices.

    If the amount of flour coming from the mill is plentiful in the dream, it means lowering of prices, or recovering from an illness. Grinding lupine seeds, henna seeds, potash, DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 279 saltwort, salsola kali, jojobe seeds or any seeds from the marsh mallow tree in a dream means washing oneself from sin, overcoming difficulties, paying one’s debts and recovering from an illness. Miller’s scale:

• custom
  • Couturier:

    (Couturier; Marriage) A tailor in a dream represents unity, a peacemaker, a scribe, a secretary, or an officiant who conducts the marriage ceremony and witnesses the signing agreement. A tailor in a dream also represents someone who regrets his wrongdoing, or amends his conduct for the better. To become a tailor and sew one’s own garments in a dream means struggling to build one’s livelihood.

    If one sees himself unable to do a good sewingjob in a dream, it means that he is trying to bring opposites together but to no avail. Sewing a robe for a woman in a dream means that he will be afflicted with a major trial. If one sees himself as a tailor or altering garments in a dream, it means prosperity, setting up a business venture, getting married, having a progeny, or putting things where they belong.

    A tailor in a dream also represents piety and a good character.

  • Outer:

    (Manifest)

  • Detergent:

    (Charity)

• tradition
  • Eid:

    (arb. Celebration; Festival. See Five times prayers)

  • Ghusul:

    (Ablution; Ghusul: Ritual ablution; Wash) A ritual bath ( arb. Ghusul. Islamic Law) is customarily performed on a festival day, or before the Friday congregational prayers, before starting a pilgrimage, after recovering from an illness, or is necessitated by the emission of sperms either during one’s sleep or following a marital intercourse.

    A ritual ablution is also given to a deceased person before his funeral and burial, or otherwise is taken by the undertaker himself after washing the dead. To take a ritual ablution in a dream before the Friday congregational prayers means purifying oneself, washing oneself from sin, repenting from sin, serving one’s parents, or being true to one’s friends. Taking a ritual ablution for any of the above reason during the wintertime and using cold water in the dream means distress, trouble or a sickness.

    If hot water is used, then it means profits, benefits and recovering from sickness. Taking a ritual ablution in a dream before attending a festival means getting married. Taking a ritual ablution after seeing either a solar or a lunar eclipses in a dream means an adversity, and the same applies if one takes a ritual ablution in a dream before the prayers of asking for rain.

    To take a ritual ablution after washing a deceased person in a dream means abandoning one’s association with heedless people. If the person who performs such an ablution is mentally DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 363 deranged, it means that he will wake-up cured from his condition. Taking a ritual ablution prior to joining the sacred pilgrimage in a dream means happiness, success, victory over one’s enemy, paying one’s debts, or reuniting with one’s beloveds.

    Taking a ritual ablution before circumambulating the sacred House in Mecca in a dream means working for one’s livelihood, serving rich people, or caring for one’s wife and parents. If a sick person sees himself taking a ritual ablution then putting on a new garment in a dream, it means that he will soon recover from his illness. Taking a ritual ablution in a dream also could mean the release of a prisoner, payment of one's debts, dispelling one’s distress, or it could mean richness, prosperity, attending the sacred pilgrimage in Mecca, or having a successful business.

    If one does not put a new garment after taking his ritual ablution in the dream, it means that he will be able to lighten his burdens, or recover his good health. Walking into a pond, or descending a well, or stepping into a bathtub to take a bath in a dream means marriage. Washing oneself with soap during such an ablution means dispensing of one’s debts, or dispelling one’s stress.

    Washing one’s garment after taking a Ghusul in a dream means correcting one’s conduct, pursuing the correct religious life, paying one’s debts, or washing away one’s filth. If one sees a deceased person washing himself before his burial in a dream, it means relief for one’s dependents and increase of their wealth after him. Giving a ritual ablution to a deceased person in a dream also means that someone will repent for his sins at the hand of the undertaker.

    If a deceased person asks someone to wash his clothes for him in a dream, it means that he needs someone to pray for him, or to intercede on his behalf before his Lord, or to pay charity for the benefit of his soul, or to pay his debts, or to fulfill his will, or to do him justice. If one does fulfills the deceased person’s wish and washes his clothes for him in the dream, it means the redemption of such a person.

  • Bible:

    Reciting the Torah but not recognizing what it is in a dream means that DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 443 one may become a fatalist. To own a copy of the Torah for a king or ruler in a dream means that he will conquer a land or make peace with its people on his terms. If he is learned in real life, it means that either his knowledge will increase or that he will invent what is not ordained, or he may tend to lean toward jovial company.

    Seeing the Torah in a dream also means finding what is lost, welcoming a long awaited traveller, or it could represent someone who follows the Jewish faith. As for an unmarried person, owning a Torah in a dream means getting married to a woman from a different religion, or it could mean marrying a woman without her parents’ consent. Seeing the Torah in a dream also may mean extensive travels.

    If one’s wife is pregnant, it means that she will bear a child who resembles his father. If one’s wife is pregnant, and if he sees himself holding the Torah in a dream, it means that she will beget a daughter, for the gender of the word Torah is feminine. It also means that he will mix with evil companions.

    Similar interpretations are given to carrying other scriptures. To see the Torah, or the Evangel, or the Gospel in a dream is as though one has seen God’s Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, because his name (uwbp) is mentioned in all three of them. It could also mean betrayal, negating a covenant, or desiring what is shoddy.

• device
  • Aliment:

    (Aliment; Food) Any product which is touched by fire in the process of its manufacturing, preparation, or cooking in a dream means arguments and disputes.

  • Blackboard:

    (Blackboard; Preserved Tablet; Records; Scrolls) Seeing the heavenly Preserved Tablet in a dream means unveiling one’s actions and thoughts, glad tidings for someone suffering from adversities, recovering from an illness for an ailing person, or falling into sin for people whose indulgence in abominable action is a common way of life. As for godly and righteous people, seeing the Preserved Tablet in a dream means guidance relating to what God Almighty has written of commands and prohibitions. As for niggardly people, seeing the Preserved Tablet in a dream means acquaintance with one’s written shares and certainty about one’s limitations and his life in this world.

    Seeing it also means preserving knowledge, cataloging references, or saving money for one’s family and heirs. It also represents a guardian for one’s properties, treasurer, the keeper of one’s secrets, or a controller. Seeing the Preserved Tablet in a dream also could denote enjoying peace after experiencing fear.

    If a ruler sees the Preserved Tablet in a dream, it means that his sovereignty will expand, or it could mean that he will discover a great treasure. As for the tablets that were DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 427 revealed to God’s prophet Moses, upon whom be peace, seeing them in a dream represents witnesses, spiritual guides, guidance or admonition. A wooden blackboard in a dream represents one’s wife, child, farmland, or finding peace after suffering from fear, or it could mean knowledge if one is a seeker of such avenues.

    In general, all boards in a dream represent admonition or prohibition of sin. Receiving a writing tablet from an Imam in a dream means an appointment to leadership, knowledge, understanding, or becoming an Imam, except if what is written on the blackboard in the dream implies admonition to do good, then the tablet means guidance and mercy. If the blackboard is made of iron in the dream, it means that one will beget a son who will become a great scholar and a strongman.

    A polished board in a dream means that one’s son will become a man of courage who accomplishes what he intends, acquires what he wants, and who will rarely be defeated. If the blackboard is corroded in the dream, it means that one’s son will have no dynasty. If the blackboard is made of stone in the dream, it means that his heart will be like a rock.

    If the blackboard is made of copper in the dream, it means that one’s son will grow to be a hypocrite. If it is made of lead in the dream, it means that one’s son will be an effeminate person. A tablet in a dream also denotes a woman and the writing on it represent her children, or it could represent an intelligent and a good natured boy who accepts what he learns from his teacher.

    Receiving a blackboard from someone in authority in a dream means gaining power. If a pregnant woman sees a blackboard in a dream, it means that she will beget a son.

  • Preserved Tablet:

    (Blackboard; Preserved Tablet; Records; Scrolls) Seeing the heavenly Preserved Tablet in a dream means unveiling one’s actions and thoughts, glad tidings for someone suffering from adversities, recovering from an illness for an ailing person, or falling into sin for people whose indulgence in abominable action is a common way of life. As for godly and righteous people, seeing the Preserved Tablet in a dream means guidance relating to what God Almighty has written of commands and prohibitions. As for niggardly people, seeing the Preserved Tablet in a dream means acquaintance with one’s written shares and certainty about one’s limitations and his life in this world.

    Seeing it also means preserving knowledge, cataloging references, or saving money for one’s family and heirs. It also represents a guardian for one’s properties, treasurer, the keeper of one’s secrets, or a controller. Seeing the Preserved Tablet in a dream also could denote enjoying peace after experiencing fear.

    If a ruler sees the Preserved Tablet in a dream, it means that his sovereignty will expand, or it could mean that he will discover a great treasure. As for the tablets that were DICTIONARY OF DREAMS 427 revealed to God’s prophet Moses, upon whom be peace, seeing them in a dream represents witnesses, spiritual guides, guidance or admonition. A wooden blackboard in a dream represents one’s wife, child, farmland, or finding peace after suffering from fear, or it could mean knowledge if one is a seeker of such avenues.

    In general, all boards in a dream represent admonition or prohibition of sin. Receiving a writing tablet from an Imam in a dream means an appointment to leadership, knowledge, understanding, or becoming an Imam, except if what is written on the blackboard in the dream implies admonition to do good, then the tablet means guidance and mercy. If the blackboard is made of iron in the dream, it means that one will beget a son who will become a great scholar and a strongman.

    A polished board in a dream means that one’s son will become a man of courage who accomplishes what he intends, acquires what he wants, and who will rarely be defeated. If the blackboard is corroded in the dream, it means that one’s son will have no dynasty. If the blackboard is made of stone in the dream, it means that his heart will be like a rock.

    If the blackboard is made of copper in the dream, it means that one’s son will grow to be a hypocrite. If it is made of lead in the dream, it means that one’s son will be an effeminate person. A tablet in a dream also denotes a woman and the writing on it represent her children, or it could represent an intelligent and a good natured boy who accepts what he learns from his teacher.

    Receiving a blackboard from someone in authority in a dream means gaining power. If a pregnant woman sees a blackboard in a dream, it means that she will beget a son.

Practical Insights for Dream Interpretation

• Reflect on Your Emotions

  When you dream of appliances, pay attention to the feelings they evoke. Are they nostalgic, comforting, or perhaps even frustrating? Your emotional response can provide insight into your relationship with the family traditions represented by these appliances.

  For instance, if you dream about an old oven that reminds you of family gatherings, it may signify a longing for connection. Conversely, dreaming of a broken appliance might reflect feelings of dissatisfaction in your personal life or family dynamics. Consider keeping a dream journal to record your dreams and emotions.

  Over time, patterns may emerge, helping you understand how your dreams connect to your waking life and emotions.

• Investigate the Condition of the Appliance

  The state of the appliance in your dream can indicate more than just a physical object; it reflects aspects of your life and relationships. A shiny, well-functioning appliance may symbolize a stable, happy home environment, while a broken or abandoned one could represent unresolved issues within your family or personal life. For example, if you dream of a washing machine that is overflowing with clothes, it may signify feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities.

  Reflecting on the symbolism can help you identify areas in your life that need attention or healing. Discussing your dreams with friends or family may also provide new perspectives on the meanings behind these dream symbols.

• Connect Dreams to Family Traditions

  Many appliances have strong ties to family traditions and cultural practices, especially in cooking or home maintenance. Engage with these traditions in your waking life to gain insight into the dreams. If you dream of a blender that conjures memories of family recipes, consider cooking together with loved ones or sharing stories around the dinner table.

  Engaging with your family’s traditions can help solidify the connection between your dream life and reality. As you continue to honor these traditions, you may discover hidden strengths and resilience that enhance your confidence in navigating life’s challenges.

FAQs

• What do dreams about an appliance usually mean?

  Dreams about appliances often symbolize domestic life and family relationships. They can represent the stability that these items provide or highlight underlying tensions within family dynamics. For example, dreaming of a dishwasher may indicate feelings regarding chores or responsibilities, while an image of a broken appliance could symbolize issues that need addressing in your personal interactions.

• Can the type of appliance impact the meaning of the dream?

  Yes, each type of appliance can hold different symbolic meanings. For instance, a washing machine may relate to emotional cleansing or renewal, while a stove could symbolize creativity in cooking or nurturing. The specific appliance that appears can guide you toward understanding the context of the dream, whether it relates to family, personal growth, or your emotional state.

• How can I use my dreams of appliances for personal growth?

  Dreams often illuminate aspects of your life needing attention or change. By analyzing dreams featuring appliances, you can gain valuable insights into your routine, responsibilities, and emotional relationships. Reflecting on these dreams may encourage you to address unresolved feelings or nurture connections that may have faded, ultimately leading to personal growth and fulfillment.

• Are dreams about appliances common?

  Yes, dreams involving household appliances are quite common. These dreams often connect to daily life and routines, making them relatable and meaningful to many individuals. The significance of such dreams largely depends on personal experiences and relationships with family dynamics, culture, and traditions.

• What should I do if I frequently dream of broken appliances?

  If broken appliances appear regularly in your dreams, it may indicate underlying stress or unresolved family issues. Consider reflecting on your current life circumstances and evaluating the stability of your relationships. Engaging in open conversations with loved ones can help address any issues and bring about healing. You might also find it beneficial to consult a mentor or therapist who can provide guidance in navigating these feelings.

References